Case study

Rosaleen is 75, single and lives in south Belfast where she is active in the local community. Having worked all her life, she had thought that her state pension and a small occupational pension would be sufficient in her retirement. But, increasingly, she finds paying the bills difficult.

Fiona, 48, and David, 51, live in a small village near Perth in Scotland. Due to their disabilities, they have both been unable to work for many years and have mounted up debts. Now, along with most disabled people, the couple are likely to face a review of their benefits under the new welfare reforms that could cut their income.

Meet Fiona and David in the following three videos recorded in early 2012 and find recent updates at the end of the page.

Renée is 40 and works long hours for low pay to try to provide for her four children, aged 3 to 14, and her 80-year-old mother. The three generations of the family share a damp and overcrowded three-bedroom council flat in Hackney, in inner London.

Meet Renée and family in the following three videos recorded in February 2012. Scroll to the bottom of the page for updates.

Marc is 19 and lives in Redcar in north-east England, a town where there are twelve times as many people claiming job seeker’s allowance as there are job vacancies. Despite having passed a number of GCSEs and A-levels and having applied for hundreds of jobs over the last two years, Marc is still unemployed.

Meet Marc in the following three videos recorded in autumn 2011 and find recent updates at the foot of the page.

PSE:UK is a major collaboration between the University of Bristol, Heriot-Watt University, The Open University, Queen's University Belfast, University of Glasgow and the University of York working with the National Centre for Social Research and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. ESRC Grant RES-060-25-0052.